Students keep referencing gang stuff. How to talk about it and convince them gangs arent the way

Im a History major currently serving as a summer school teacher at a Charter school for a fellowship

Im worried this is going to sound obnoxiously self righteous inner city teacher or something

But I have a weird frustration that im trying to figure out how to address. A few of my students are super into GD (Gangster Disciples) shit. Its not like i think they are actually gang banging, especially in the case of Carter given that last week he was claiming he was both a Crip and a Blood. Its like they dig gangsters in the same way that I used to love cowboys.

But like I still think thats bad and want to figure out how to talk about them. I weirdly enough have alot of knowledge of GDs because I grew up on the west side and my moms mom dated a few high ranking GDs. Thats also why I have a big emotional response to that type of talk. She died of a cocaine overdose and her old boyfriend is currently in prison for a super brutal murder.

So im trying to think of a way to talk to them about this stuff without being the inauthentic asshole white teacher. Part of me thinks I should let it be because they arent harming anybody or themselves but I do worry about them going into high school wanting to hang with GDs once they leave the super isolated charter school world.

Sorry I hope this rant wasnt weird or anything, I just want to talk to people about it

Submitted July 03, 2018 at 11:03PM by Raskolnikov1817 https://ift.tt/2IPqXRy